


Heart of Kyber

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Series: Adopted Prompts [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Droid Obi-Wan, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, NO DEATH, Qui-Gon Lives, Safe to Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-06-08 06:44:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15237672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Obi-Wan is a band-new HK-series protocol droid, and his greatest desire is to be a Jedi. Mace thinks that's reasonable. Qui-Gon, though, might have to be convinced.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt sent to my tumblr's inbox: buttonbright: could you do protocol droid!Obi-Wan who becomes force sensitive when Qui-Gon meditates with him (like the river stone)? Could be angst about sentience and self-worth, could be Qui-Gon and robo-padawan hijinks (or Anakin and his cool droid master), or something else entirely. 
> 
> Fair Warning: it's bordering on something else, but there is fluff involved. I think. Part 1 of 3 (all three parts are written and ready to go).

 

All Jedi knew Professor Huyang.

He remembered the time when Yoda made his first lightsaber, he'd held T'ra Saa as a baby, he'd watched over them for well over a thousand years.

No one knew quite how long.

Even Maz Kanata told stories of her youth, when Huyang was already old and wise.

Perhaps it should not have come as a surprise, that after caring for others' children for so many years, that he finally decided he wanted one of his own...

And yet it _did_ surprise.

Mace Windu found himself staring down at a waist-high droid, delicate in his construction, and with clear facets so that he could be made taller and broader after intervals of time.

A child.

Huyang sent him to explore the drawers of lightsaber bits, and walked with Mace down the hall so the little one would not hear.

“Congratulations,” Mace offered. The Force flickered around Huyang, suggesting that he experienced more happiness than scientists might claim possible.

Huyang bobbed his head and hummed. “They say the strongest stars have hearts of kyber, so I gave him one.”

Mace arched an eyebrow at him. He reached out to the Force, and sensed the quiet presence of the near-sentient stone. It seemed content, not at all concerned or trapped in a forced bond.

The crystals themselves decided who to entrust themselves to, and made their displeasure known when they were forced against their will. This crystal accepted its place within a droid-child.

“He is very clever,” Huyang said, glancing back in the direction of the boy who was carefully inspecting lenses used in saber construction. “I wanted him to be agile, so I drew many of his design aspects from the old HK-series protocol droids.”

Mace felt a little surprise again. “Very agile indeed, then. Warrior caliber. Do you not intend for him to live with you, here?”

“I wanted to bring life into being,” Huyang explained, “but I want him to find a life of his own. And he wants to be a Jedi.”

Mace paused, looked first to Huyang, then back at the child, who looked tiny from this far away. “He is fully sentient?” Mace clarified.

He received a nod.

“If he did come to us, I could not promise a life of normalcy,” Mace warned. “While his physical strength and abilities might be comparable to a Force-enhanced living being, and while he could live by the Code and help the helpless... if he cannot feel the Force, it would make him different from his classmates. That difference might be sorely felt.”

Huyang nodded. “I understand. He does not, yet, but he wants to brave it. He wants to make a difference.”

_You, Huyang have reproduced. Both of you move, and the little one has been designed to grow, even if it's with new parts being added._

Then again, some of the reptiloid and arachnoid Jedi grew a new, larger body within the skin of their last one, then crawled out and shed that former skin. Certainly  _that_ was growing, even if the former cells were no longer kept.

And when the little one had looked up to him, bowed, and murmured, “Pleased to meet you, Master Windu,” he had certainly responded to stimulus.

_Metabolic activities?_

That would be the last criteria specifying if Obi-Wan Kenobi and his father were living things, or simply clever computers.

“I will speak to the Council,” Mace promised.

Huyang bowed in response. “That is all I ask.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

“You can't be serious.”

Mace turned to his friend, surprised. “I find I _am,_ actually. You disapprove?”

“I respect Huyang's knowledge and experience just as much as any, but the fact that he  _made_ another machine does not make that machine a child,” Qui-Gon insisted.

“If you made a littler version of your same species, what would  _that_ be?” Mace countered, feeling grimly amused. “Seems to me that's exactly what Huyang did.”

Qui-Gon huffed, frowning. “It's not alive, Mace, and it cannot touch the Force. How in  _blazes_ can it be a Jedi? It's cruel of the Council to let it gain false hopes.”

“Well, if it's not living,  _hope_ certainly won't be a thing it experiences.” Mace turned to go, but the taller man moved into his path again.

“ _Mace._ ”

“Qui-Gon.”

“Have a little compassion. It will sit in class and wonder what in blazes' name the teachers are talking about. And meditation? Would be  _pointless._ ”

“I'm not sure I agree,” Mace retorted, feeling just a bit annoyed now. “Mindfulness, experiencing each moment's sensations to the fullest, and just exploring what's inside his head is something Obi-Wan Kenobi can  _certainly_ do. Maybe he can't feel the world around him  _just_ the way you do, but who is to say that Master Yoda experiences the Force the same way we do? Or Oppo? Or one of the insectoid species? It's different, Qui-Gon. Just different. Not a problem.”

“How can a creature  _separate_ from the Living Force  _follow_ the Living Force?”

“The Living Force is not all there is.”

Qui-Gon scoffed at that, but he kept his silence.

 

* * *

 

The human man who came to see him was clearly startled upon catching sight of Obi-Wan.

“Mace didn't say you were an _assassin_ droid,” the man said, and Obi-Wan thought he sounded just a bit... unhappy.

Obi-Wan stood up from where he had been sitting and clasped his hands in front of him, swaying just a bit. “Assertion: My schematics are of a protocol droid designation, Master.”

“So you're not an  _HK_ ?”

“Statement: Oh, I am, Sir.”

The man frowned. “And just what does  _HK_ stand for?”

“Explanation: Hunter-Killer, Sir.”

This did not seem to have been the correct thing to say, since the tall man fidgeted and looked  _very_ uncomfortable. “Protocol droid, huh?”  
“Education: The original designers of my schematics desired both protection  _and_ to comply with the rules of diplomacy at the time. Statement: I speak two thousand languages and stand ready to learn more if this is required for me to be accepted.” 

The being did not look appeased, though he asked to meditate with Obi-Wan.

_Thought: People ask people to meditate with them. Conclusion: I am people._

With joy, Obi-Wan replied, “Acceptance: Yes, please, Master Jinn.”

 

* * *

 

“Mace, he  _exists in the Force._ ” Qui-Gon's hand gripped Mace's arm so tight that Mace wasn't sure the muscle would not bruise. “I thought it would prove he  _couldn't_ meditate, but he is  _there._ ”

Mace sent him a bland look. “It is, is it?”

“ _Mace,_ ” Qui-Gon grumbled. “Alright, I was  _wrong._ He is something  _new,_ something special.”

“I'm sure both he and Huyang will be  _very_ relieved to hear that. Listen, Qui-Gon, I can understand your prior skepticism, but your opinion doesn't really change anything.”

Qui-Gon shrugged, letting go of the crushed arm. “Maybe, or maybe not. I want to take him as my apprentice.”

Mace couldn't find words.

Qui-Gon Never Again Jinn, willing to take another apprentice after Xanatos?

One he'd discounted an hour earlier as not being  _worthy_ of being a Jedi?

Mace felt both skepticism and wonder. Skepticism that this was a good idea, and wonder, because their newest Jedi had done something no one else could do.

Change Qui-Gon Jinn's mind.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

“Anakin Skywalker, meet my apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“You're a Jedi  _too_ ?” The child looked astonished and delighted, and then he seized Obi-Wan's hand and pumped it up and down. “Pleased to meet you!”

Obi-Wan experienced surprise. Qui-Gon had said this child liked to  _build_ droids, so to be treated as something other than Qui-Gon's... toy... was unexpected. He tilted his head to the side, his string of beads clinking against one auburn shoulder-plate.

Qui-Gon was watching him with a smile, love in his eyes. Obi-Wan knew what that looked like, now, when a master loved an apprentice like their child. Obi-Wan could not change the way his eyes looked, but he thought— and hoped— Qui-Gon could feel Obi-Wan's heart just the same.

_Thought: You are my master, in the meaning of the term used by Jedi. Memory: You promised to make me a Jedi. Belief: Yes, he— I— will—_ _be— am— a—_

Beliefs were always tricky, his brain always glitched just a bit, couldn't really put it into words. He knew his eyes flickered, the light going on and off as he reset his circuits.

Beliefs were tricky, certainly, so perhaps they were better left experienced, than thought. Though Obi-Wan wanted to explore them, to define them. See where they went and where they came from, because those pathways seemed to come out of nowhere and when he tried to follow them back, they vanished.

A warm, comforting hand landed on his shoulder, a steadying presence.

“Gratitude: Thank you, Master.”

 

* * *

 

Obi-Wan had not thought himself ready to  _apprentice_ another being, but with Qui-Gon's recovery being too intense to allow him to train another just yet, and with Qui-Gon's request...

Obi-Wan Kenobi found himself with a knighthood, a padawan, and a medic, all in one. Obi-Wan discovered injuries in the field to be less frightening now, since Anakin seemed to understand his insides by instinct. Qui-Gon had tried to learn, but Obi-Wan had always been worried he might bump something with his big fingers and leave Obi-Wan hopelessly speaking Shyriwook  _backwards_ forever.

They seemed to fit together like pieces made for one another, Anakin and his master, and Obi-Wan enjoyed his company immensely.

 

* * *

 

Mace watched the pair as the years passed by, watched as the last of Obi-Wan's hesitance and lack of surety disappeared. Mace didn't know if the new confidence was because one  _had_ to gain it as Anakin Skywalker's master lest you die of panic, or if it was because Anakin affirmed Obi-Wan as a person at every turn.

Never once that Mace knew of did Anakin Skywalker intimate, by word or deed, that Obi-Wan Kenobi was less than any of the other Jedi.

Huyang was proud as could be when the Master-Padawan team became one of the best of their time, in demand for their skills.

Every time Obi-Wan staved off violence between beings through words alone, and convinced bitter enemies to allow peace to be found, Mace shamelessly hunted up Qui-Gon and  _looked_ at him.

And Qui-Gon simply chuckled, shook his head, and sometimes even blushed a little in shame at the thought of how he had once discounted Obi-Wan for the letters on his schematics.

Right now, Mace watched as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon sparred, green and blue light dancing around them and bathing them with lovely tones and shadows. Qui-Gon was not as agile as he once was, and it was clear Obi-Wan was not fighting his best because he wanted the match to last longer than a few moments.

This wasn't about who was better, it was about sharing a moment of connection with a man Obi-Wan deeply respected, and perhaps even loved, though Obi-Wan could never seem to actually get that  _said._ He would try, his eyes would flicker, his head would tilt, and it would end with Anakin slapping him on the back and poking at wires before Obi-Wan straightened up again and carried on as if nothing had been amiss.

But if you listened really closely to the Force, reaching out to the two beings sparring below...

You could feel it.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Brief droid in pieces due to offscreen battle. It's painless, and he's put back together again in short order.

 

Obi-Wan was currently in pieces.

Ahsoka had been horrified when Anakin brought Obi-Wan back to camp in a backpack, her grandmaster's eyes worryingly unlit.

The clones, too, were uneasy, gathering around and trying to not be  _overt_ in their watching, and soundly failing.

It had been a selfless thing, a horrifying, awful, selfless thing Obi-Wan had done, but Anakin didn't seem too concerned as he reached an open place near the fire and gently tipped the backpack up, spilling all the parts onto the ground with a clatter.

“Don't worry. His personality chip is fine, he's just switched off right now.”

“Is that... like being unconscious, sir?” Fives asked, voice cautious.

“Sure is,” Anakin confirmed.

Cody looked distraught. “Why is he so insistent on getting himself blown up, General Skywalker?”

“Because,” Anakin explained, pulling out a hydrospanner and getting to work on reconnecting metal pieces, “he knows he can be put back together again, and the rest of us can't.”

The gentle swell of near-worship that crested through the clones certainly didn't escape Ahsoka's notice.

Anakin reconnected Obi-Wan's power supply, then connected the copper-colored head to the torso, and nudged Obi-Wan's on switch. The eyes lit up with their comforting glow, and a polite cough preceded words. “Exclamation: Oh. The connector for my left thigh is completely slagged.”

“Not to worry,” Anakin replied without looking up from reattaching a hand to a wrist.

If Obi-Wan could glower, he would have. “Protest: I certainly  _do_ find it worrying. I'd rather  _not_ wait out the rest of the campaign strapped to your back.”

Anakin shoved a hand in his own pocket, pulled out an assortment of glinting bits. Ahsoka stared in shock, and then delight.

“Pretty sure I have an electrical connector...” he mused, fishing through his handful. “Yep!”

“Concession: I may have been hasty.”

“Bet your shiny butt you were. When have I ever  _not_ taken care of you?”

Obi-Wan's head tilted to the side.

Ankain sent him an indignant look. “No! Don't go sifting through the entire memory databanks just find the  _one damn time_ I didn't!”

“Is there one, Master?” Ahsoka asked, trying to hide a smug grin.

“ _Maybe._ I don't  _remember_ anything, but I'm not the one with perfect recall.”

“Conclusion: I have not found a single instance of care being denied,” Obi-Wan confirmed, and the warm, soft look that entered Anakin's eyes upon hearing it made Ahsoka feel... cuddly, inside. “Assertion: That being said, dropping me in a gundark nest—”

The look of ludicrous disbelief that stole Anakin's face left a couple of the clones snickering. “ _Dropped_ you? You jumped in all on your own. I was two meters away. There was no  _dropping!_ ”

“Falsehood: I must have remembered inexactly.”

Ahsoka giggled. “Master Obi-Wan, lying only works if you don't warn people you're about to.”

“ _Shh,_ ” Anakin hissed. “If you teach him how to lie convincingly, my workload will  _triple!_ ”

“Request: Please reattach my hand, Anakin. Qui-Gon will fret if he returns to find me not entirely whole.”

“It happens  _far_ too often to fret anymore,” a deep voice sighed, causing Ahsoka to turn and see the silver-haired master walking in their direction. “If I had a heart attack every time you came to pieces, I would be bedridden, Obi-Wan.”

“Assertion: This is humor.”

“It is indeed, my Obi-Wan.”

“Conclusion: Humor is funny, laughter is appropriate. Ha. Ha. Ha!”

The inflection turned from exploratory to triumphant, and left clones and Ahsoka in uncontrollable laughter, Anakin chuckling, and Qui-Gon's eyes sparkling.

Through the Force, Ahsoka could sense Obi-Wan felt smug.

“Triumph: Humor correctly identified and participated in.”

“And hand number two back under your control,” Anakin added with a grin. “Wiggle your fingers for me.”

“Accusation:  _You flipped the wires!_ ”

“Yeah! Yeah, I can see that! Hang on, I'll take it off and get them unmixed!”

“Complaint:  _I can't make a fist!_ ”

Anakin and Qui-Gon spoke in near unison.

“Patience, Master—”

“Patience, Padawan—”

Obi-Wan turned glowing blue eyes to Ahsoka, and she could have  _sworn_ he looked disgusted and injured. “ _Patience_ ?!” And then his attempt at saying  _frip you,_ but his programming didn't allow for it, so instead, as soon as the  _fr_ came out, a high-pitched  _beep_ then, “you!” followed by  _beeeeep beep beeeping beep—_

At which point he gave up and growled out several notes of binary, which had R2's head spinning around and a squeal that made it sound like the astromech was quite impressed, and then R2 chortled and cooed back in reply.

A static-filled sigh escaped Obi-Wan— he'd recorded one of Cody's, so that he could sigh himself— and he slumped forward a bit, submitting to Anakin's fingers again. 

“There, see?” Anakin soothed. “Hand's fixed. And just give me a minute, and the rest will be too.”

R2 raspberried, which had Anakin looking insulted again.

Ahsoka grinned, and when Qui-Gon invited her to accompany him to try to find something more edible than government rations...

She agreed, and left her two masters to their repairs.

 

 


End file.
